762 crimes against the media and journalists committed by Russia in the 2 years and 9 months of the full-scale war

In the 2 years and 9 months since the start of the full-scale invasion Russia committed 762 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine.

This is evidenced by the monthly monitoring of Russia's crimes against journalists and the media by the Institute of Mass Information.

This month, the IMI adds the data on Ukrainian media outlets that closed down due to Russia's aggression (329) to the total number of Russia's crimes. These data were received based on a study by the Institute of Mass Information and collected through the organization's network. Of these media outlets, only 52 managed to resume operations.

Russia's crimes against the media and journalists in Ukraine

In October – November of 2024 the IMI recorded five crimes against the media and journalists committed by Russia. These included shelling strikes on TV towers, legal pressure, and media outlets closing down due to Russia's aggression.

In October, the death of Oleksiy Andreyev, an army serviceman and TV cameraman from Mariupol, was reported. He was previously assigned missing in Donetsk oblast on November 29, 2023. He was buried on November 2, 2024 in Chernivtsi.

The Russian troops damaged a TV tower in Lozova (Kharkiv oblast) with drones, causing glitches in national broadcasting.

Dnipro media holding "Vidkrytyi" shut down due to the impact of the war. The channel's owners decided to cease operations until Ukarine's victory in the Russo–Ukrainian war.

A court in Russia arrested Romania's HotNews journalist Mircea Barbu in absentia. He is charged with illegally crossing the border and filming near Sudzha, Kursk region, Russia.

Furthermore, two media outlets faced cyber attacks: Detector Media and Zaporizhzhia's inform.zp.ua. The Russian hacker group “People's CyberArmy” claimed responsibility for the attack on Detector Media. The Zaporizhzhia team believes the attack is related to their reporting on the Russian army's crimes in the temporarily occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia oblast.

Read more here.

The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Ukrainian non-governmental media organization that has been operating since 1996. The IMI defends the rights of journalists, analyzes the media field and covers media-related events, fights propaganda and disinformation and has been providing media outlets with safety gear for trips to the combat zone since the start of the Russo–Ukrainian war in 2014.

The IMI carries out Ukraine's only freedom of speech monitoring and keeps a list of high quality and sustainable online media outlets, documents Russia's crimes against the media committed in the course of the war on Ukraine. The IMI has representatives in 20 oblasts of Ukraine and a network of "Mediabaza" hubs to provide journalists with continuous support. The IMI's partners include Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House; the organization is a member of the International Organization for the Protection of Freedom of Expression (IFEX).